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Underwater tunnel takes shape
The first of the four reinforced-concrete segments was anchored at the construction site of the Thu Thiem Tunnel on the Sai Gon River on Sunday.
The 27,000-tonne structure will be settled in the river bed tomorrow morning, while the other three segments will be towed to the site later from Nhon Trach District in southern Dong Nai Province.
The 370.8-metre long underwater tunnel will connect the city's District 1 with the new urban Thu Thiem Area in District 2. The tunnel is designed to ease the east-west traffic flow in the city.
Experts said the sealed segment will be lowered into a prepared trench on the riverbed and then covered with backfilling material in order to secure its position and protect the tunnel.
The installation of each unit takes about one month to complete.
After the four units are secured and connected with the tunnel entrances at both ends, the driveway and the emergency pathways will be paved and assorted installation projects will continue until the tunnel is completed and opened in mid-2011.
The tunnel is part of the Sai Gon East-West Highway Project that is being implemented by HCM City with financial assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The agency has provided 41.027 billion yen (US$456 million) in ODA for the project.
Addressing a press meeting on yesterday afternoon, Tsuno Motonori, chief representative of JICA Viet Nam Office, said this was the first infrastructure project supported by JICA in HCM City.
This new six-lane, 22-km road will connect National Highway 1A with the Ha Noi Highway in the east. The road will also pass under the Sai Gon River through the Thu Thiem tunnel.
"We hope that it will help facilitate transportation and thus contribute to the socio-economic development of HCM City," said Motoroni.
The western part of the highway was opened to traffic on September 2 last year.
Four bridges over the canal – Khanh Hoi, Calmette, Chu Y, and Cha Va – were also opened last year .
The road section on the Thu Thiem side will be gradually opened starting in April this year.
Motonori said the installation of the immersed tunnel units is the most difficult part of the EWH project. He added that these are the first immersed tunnels in Viet Nam and also the first project of this type in Southeast Asia.
"We hope that this work will be implemented very smoothly."
According to JICA's figures, the agency has also provided ODA loans of $267 million to the HCM City Water Environment Improvement Project; $232 million to the City Urban Railway Construction Project's Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien Section; $253 million to the Tan Son Nhat International Airport Terminal Construction; and $185 million to the HCM City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay section of the North-South Express Construction Project.
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